UN plans to send team to Syria to collect evidence against Assad regime officials

UN seeks to engage with Syria's new authorities to secure evidence and boost humanitarian aid after Assad's ouster, raising hopes for accountability.
2 min read
17 December, 2024
Rebels swept President Bashar al-Assad from power this month, flinging open prisons and government offices and raising fresh hopes for accountability for crimes committed during Syria's more than 13-year civil war [Getty]

The head of a UN investigative body has written to Syria's new authorities to express a willingness to engage with them and to travel to Syria to secure evidence that could implicate top officials of the former government, he said on Tuesday.

Rebels swept President Bashar al-Assad from power this month, flinging open prisons and government offices and raising fresh hopes for accountability for crimes committed during Syria's more than 13-year civil war.

"Our first priority would be to go and try and scope the extent of the issue, see exactly what is available in terms of access and potential evidence, and then see how we could best assist in preserving that," Robert Petit, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM), told a Geneva press briefing.

"There is now the possibility of accessing evidence of the highest level of (the) regime," he added.

The UN body was set up in 2016 to probe and help prosecute the most serious crimes committed in Syria since 2011.

It has already collected 283 terabytes of data and is cooperating with national prosecutors, including teams in Belgium, France and the United States on Syria investigations.

Petit said that there had been some evidence lost in Syria in the transition but that it was too early to know the scale.

"We have noted with hope a state of awareness from the transitional authorities and from civil Syrian civil society actors of the need to preserve evidence," he added.

On Monday, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher met with the commander of Syria's new administration, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and newly appointed Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir to discuss scaling up humanitarian assistance in the country.

Following Fletcher's meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he welcomed the caretaker government's commitment to protect civilians, including humanitarian workers.

"I also welcome their agreement to grant full humanitarian access through all border crossings; cut through bureaucracy over permits and visas for humanitarian workers; ensure the continuity of essential government services, including health and education; and engage in genuine and practical dialogue with the wider humanitarian community," Guterres said.

Guterres called on the international community to rally behind the Syrian people as they "seize the opportunity to build a better future." The United Nations says seven in 10 people in Syria continue to need humanitarian aid.

Fletcher also plans to visit Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.